Most families encourage children to act prosocially rather than aggressively in their day-to-day interactions with other people. But in some families, children learn to be aggressive and coercive in order to get what they need and want

Question

a. Give at least two different reasons why a young child in an aggressive family environment might show a great deal of antisocial behavior and relatively little prosocial behavior when he or she first begins kindergarten.
b. Describe at least two effects that such antisocial behaviors at school are likely to have on the child's social-emotional development.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Responses to the two parts of the question are as follows:
a. Possible explanations for the child's antisocial behavior are the following (the response should include at least two of these or other justifiable reasons):
- Children acquire many behaviors, including how to interact with other people, by watching models.
- Through their words and actions, other family members may communicate the idea that aggression is an appropriate way of treating others.
- The child may observe that aggression is more likely to yield productive results (i.e., it is frequently reinforced).
- Because prosocial behavior is so rare in the home, the child has few opportunities to observe it; in other words, prosocial models are lacking.
- Given the emphasis on aggression, the child is unlikely to hear other family members encouraging social perspective taking.
b. Following are possible outcomes of the antisocial behavior at school (the response should include at least two of these or other logical outcomes):
- The child alienates peers, making it difficult to form friendships that promote better social skills.
- The child alienates the teacher, who may soon lose interest in working productively with the child.
- Consistently negative reactions from adults and peers may lead to a poor sense of self.
- The child's social isolation may encourage him or her to affiliate with other aggressive children, making the problem worse.